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Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter February 2006 |
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AHPA Meeting in Houston I attended the American Honey Producers Convention in Houston from January 10-14. There were around 150 beekeepers in attendance. It appears there is going to be a surplus of bees for almond pollination. At the time of the convention, there were about 100,000 extra colonies in California. Lyle Johnston thought most of this initial surplus would disappear when beekeepers went through their colonies after the convention. Still to come were many semi loads from Florida and other southern locations. Some of the almond growers are coming back to their pollination providers seeking a fee reduction. They are also seeking bees from off shore locations for future pollination. There were some scary numbers on the number of queens that supercede within six months. There are a lot of bad drones out there. A well mated queen needs a sperm count of around 5,000,000. The other problem is the environment the queens are introduced into. They have found that a queen with nosema may only last about 30 days. Tracheal mites also lead to early supercedure. Tracheal mites target young bees. In a mating nuc, the virgin queen is the youngest bee available. So she is a likely target. Varroa mites will ignore queen cells. They don’t have time to mature in those. They can target the mated queen later. While tylosin has been approved for foulbrood treatment, there are going to be residue problems if it is used indiscriminately. It doesn’t break down like TM does. Be careful if you use this. There have been some positive results using oxalic acid on Varroa mites. The mix is one litre of water with one kg of sugar and 75 grams of oxalic acid. This treats 25 colonies. The researchers were applying the acid with a 60 ml plastic syringe at a rate of 5ml/frame. If the weather is cold trickle the acid on the top bars. Otherwise, trickle it between the frames. Most of the commercial operations that were using oxalic acid were applying it with a garden sprayer. Research showed a 70% kill with the acid. Diana Summantaro had tested Sucrocide using a rate of 3 tablespoons per two gallons of water. It didn’t work at this rate. She was planning to try it again in a higher concentration. There were some positive results using Apigard on Varroa mites. None of the Varroa remedies they are working on kill as well as the strips did when they were working. This will translate into the need for more frequent monitoring and probably more frequent mite treatments. It was as fun meeting and I learned a lot. Submitted by Phil Ebert
Summer Field Day Some preliminary arrangements have been discussed for the summer field day. We want to improve the quality of this event. We expect to hold the event at either the 4-H camp or the Iowa Arboretum. Both of these locations are near Madrid. The date will be either June 24th or July 8th. There will be a potluck meat with the association furnishing the main course and the drink. Prospective speakers will be contacted soon.
IHPA Board Meeting March 11, 2006 November 16, 2006 November 17 & 18 The meetings are usually held at Immanuel Methodist Church located at 2900 49th Street in Des Moines. (49th & Urbandale Road)
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